Critic's review

Kholeka Kumalo

Food
If there is such a thing as casual fine dining, then Alex and Eloise Windebank have nailed it. Expert cooking techniques meet interesting flavour combinations and skillful presentation, and none of these factors make the restaurant feel any less like a homey. It’s like a fancy night in.

The menu takes its inspiration from modern European fare. It’s concise – divided into snacks, starters, mains and desserts – and changes weekly.

The snacks are much smaller, more affordable starters, neither of which will rob you of room for your mains. To begin, the bite-size, lightly crumbed balls of fishcakes, served with a lemon mayonnaise (which would be good enough to eat without the fishcakes), come highly recommended. And from the starters, you’ll never taste a Jerusalem artichoke velouté as comfortingly smooth and creamy as the one served with the smoked ham hock roll.

For mains, the crispy lamb shoulder is an unexpected treat. It’s served off the bone and packed into a crumbed parcel, resting on a bed of pearl barley and a pesto-like sauce on the side. The pork belly is also full of textural surprises, served with long shards of pork crackling, the softest pockets of gnocchi and a slightly sweet and crunchy apple relish.

For dessert, there’s a warm chocolate brownie drenched in thick salted caramel sauce that combines well with banana ice cream – even if you don’t like banana ice cream. If you’ve run out of space, you can always end things off with some Holden Manz port aka ‘a glass of something sticky’.

Drinks
Just when you thought you might be tired of G&T, here comes Farro’s signature G&T made with kumquat gin. Their negroni is also mixed to perfection. The wine list comprises small-batch wines, which the waitron is more than happy to talk you through. For an easy-drinking red wine, try the ‘fun and fruity’ Jikken Bareru Tinta Baroca or Gabrielskloof The Blend, with the apt description, ‘tastes like a second bottle’.

Service
Friendly, passionate and attentive. It’s always a good sign when your waitron has a great sense of pacing between meals and drink top-ups and can share informed recommendations with sensitivity to taste, texture and mood.

Ambience
Housed inside a shopping centre, Farro’s cosy, chic and contemporary vibe is a welcome surprise. It’s a small space with seating inside and out (although inside is cosier) and charming furniture that feels familiar – think school chairs reinvented as dining chairs. Exposed piping, unfussy candlelit tables, and art on loan from artist Michael Meyersfeld complete the picture.

(May 2018)

Ambience

★★★★★

Service

★★★★★

Food

★★★★★

User reviews

Sheri&nbspMorgan

November 3rd, 2018 at 10:21am

Mouthwatering! Excellent simple dishes with a subtle twist that are well cooked. Nice variety of choices, had nibbles, stater, main and dessert as everything just sounded too good and interesting. Also good cocktail and wine list, very reasonably priced! Will be a regular here!

Ambience

★★★★★

Service

★★★★★

Food

★★★★★

Catherine&nbspGroves

September 8th, 2018 at 6:57am

Farro is just fantastic on all levels, Alex’s food is outstanding! We have been many times to the restaurant with different groups of friends and everyone has been blown away which is a wonderful change. Well done Alex and Eloise

Ambience

★★★★★

Service

★★★★★

Food

★★★★★

Suzanne&nbspWiid

July 7th, 2018 at 19:34pm

A lovely quaint little spot perfect for a date night or special dinner with the girls. Great tapas, excellent cocktails and the waiter was very good at recommending which wine to pair with the food. The best service I have had in a long time. Excellent experience.

Ambience

★★★★★

Service

★★★★★

Food

★★★★★

Jackie&nbspvan der Hoven

June 8th, 2018 at 17:39pm

I had heard a bit of hype about Farro and I’m the type to see what it’s all about! I quickly understood after arriving!
There was a nice vibe in this intimate space. The snacks, starters, main and dessert (yes we had to try them all) we absolutely delicious!! Portions were spot on and dishes well priced.
We will definitely be back there soon, not only for the food but friendly and attentive service too!
Such a gem!

Ambience

★★★★★

Service

★★★★★

Food

★★★★★

Philippe&nbspFrydman

March 28th, 2018 at 5:42am

Finally Michelin stars meets relaxed. Celebrated our daughter's birthday at the newly opened Farro restaurant last night and from start to end it was just fantastic. The food is soooo well prepared that I felt transported back to the great houses of Europe. They have a very small menu that changes weekly and just presented on an A4 sheet of beautiful paper. The menu is divided in snacks, starters, mains and desserts. We tried all the snacks, all the main and all the desserts. From the pigs head crostini, beignet with sumac and smoked paprika through the veal chop and fried cauliflower, cashew hummus and gnocchi to end by and Panna Cotta coconut and homemade guava sorbet and honeycomb truffles this will no doubt become one of the "Must To" establishment not to miss. BTW the service is matching the quality of the food!!

Ambience

★★★★★

Service

★★★★★

Food

★★★★★

Susan&nbspDeerans

March 11th, 2018 at 9:03am

WOW Something very different .... menu was full of unusual options.
The GnT on the patio to start was excellent and
we shared all the starters ( we had a table of 6 ) delish !
My Pork Belly was amazing , cooked to perfection.
Desserts looked great, but I was too full to try them.
I believe the Menu will change daily, so looking forward to trying out
lots of exciting dishes .
Staff super friendly and all very helpful

Ambience

★★★★★

Service

★★★★★

Food

★★★★★

Darren&nbspBrick

March 9th, 2018 at 21:54pm

...I must start by saying that this was one of the best dining experiences i have had!
1. The ambience is casual fun and funky
2. The food from snacks and starters to mains and dessert blew my taste buds out of my mouth ...i’m still looking for them
3. The staff were amazingly helpful without giving away the “wow” of each dish.
4. It is causal fine dining - in my experience fine dining can try too hard and be overly keen. This was everything but that. Casual fine dining is the only way to describe such perfection.
5. Im not leaving hungry from a fine dining restaurant but rather ready to book a table for the same time and table next week.
5. The owners are super friendly and authentic
6. It’s BOYB ...for now
Book now or you might not get a table in the next month.
Dishes we had:
Snacks: brioche with brie cheese and truffle oil & the beignets with smoked paprika
Starters: egg yolk raviolo
Mains: kingclip and lamb rack
Deserts: grape Eton mess!
I hope this does some justice to what we ate...